In order to determine whether or not there is a fault in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor, a test element group (TEG) including an element such as a resistive element, a contact element, and a transistor is fabricated, and separately from a manufacturing test (Die Sort), a test for checking for the presence and absence of a fault in the manufacturing process using the TEG has been performed. In most cases, the TEG and a TEG pad serving as an electrode of the TEG are not directly necessary for the production of actual devices. For such a reason, the TEG and the TEG pad are formed on a scribe line (dicing line) to monitor and manage electrical characteristics.
In a probing method that requires a contact to the TEG pad, an inexpensive cantilever type probe pin card has been used so far. However, recently, a use of a vertical type probe card has started to be considered due to the demand for a reduction in the width of the scribe line. However, since the vertical type is expensive and is limited in its use to a pin arrangement with a pin pitch of 100 μm or more in the current situation, giving the conventional cantilever type probe a new birth of life is a best way to obtain stable contact characteristics at a low cost. However, even with the recent cantilever type probe, in the case of a pad pitch of less than 100 μm, it is difficult to manufacture the probe card with enough preciseness required for the inspection process, and so it is increasingly difficult to maintain a stable contact. Probe card manufacturers are conducting development for securing stable contact characteristics by making various efforts, such as changing a pin material to ensure a contact margin even a little bit, adjusting an angle or a size of the contact pins, and arranging neighboring pins in different patterns.
Meanwhile, in the present situation, any special countermeasures have not been taken on a pad as a contact target except for size reduction because its function as an original semiconductor is focused. In order to acquire as many chips as possible from one wafer according to a roadmap of miniaturization, the width of the scribe line needs be reduced. If the width of the scribe line is reduced, the width (area) of the TEG pad formed on the scribe line and the pad pitch of the TEG are also reduced. It is necessary for a test (inspection) of the TEG to be precisely performed that the probe pin can make a contact with the TEG pad. At this time, in order to achieve a physical contact between the probe pin and the TEG pad, the probe pin should be pressed against the TEG pad to some extent, but excessive pressing may cause the tip of the probe pin to slip out of the TEG pad, causing a short-circuit with a neighboring conductive pattern. That is, as the miniaturization progresses, the width of the scribe line is reduced, and thus making a contact to the TEG pad (an inspection pad) is increasingly difficult in the inspection process.